Jon Favreau and Disney Teaming for a New ‘Lion King’

Well this is certainly an interesting tweet, from director Jon Favreau:

It can mean only one of two things. Either Favreau is remaking the immortal classic Secondhand Lions, the 2003 masterpiece starring Michael Caine and Haley Joel Osment widely regarded as the undisputed king of coming-of-age stories (hence the crown emoji). Or he’s making a new version of The Lion King.

Disney confirmed the news in a press release, saying they are “putting a new reimagining of The Lion King on the fast track to production.” It will be the latest in a string of live-action updates of Disney classics including Maleficent, Cinderella, the upcoming Beauty and the Beast, and Favreau’s own The Jungle Book, which grossed almost $1 billion worldwide earlier this spring. Disney says they are still working with Favreau on a Jungle Book sequel as well.

The big question from the press release is whether Favreau’s version will be closer to the cartoon or to the Broadway musical that’s still running at the Minskoff Theatre. (Julie Taymor, who directed the famous stage production, isn’t mentioned.) Also, while The Jungle Book had a few human characters, most notably “man-cub” Mowgli, The Lion King has none, raising the question of what a live-action movie with no live-action people in it looks like. That will be interesting to see. As yet, there’s no release date for Favreau’s The Lion King.